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Dear Neighbor,
The Legislature returned to St. Paul this week to kick off the 2024 session. It?s good to be back at the Capitol representing the residents of District 15A as we take on this year?s challenges.
Here are some notes as we wrap up Week 1 in the new session:
Do what?s best for all Minnesotans
If we learned anything last year, it?s that we need more balance at the Capitol. Democrats in full control spent the $17.5 billion surplus, raised taxes by $10 billion and enacted extreme new laws on everything from abortion to our energy policies. They are bent on making our state the California of the Midwest instead of simply doing what is right for the people of our own state.
My sleeves are rolled up for the people of our district, in Greater Minnesota and throughout our state. I encourage my friends across the aisle to take a deep breath and focus on doing what?s best for all Minnesotans this year instead of continuing to pushing their activist-driven agenda on all the good people of our state.
Early floor action
On the first day of this session, House Republicans made a motions on the floor to address a couple of important issues. One motion was to reject the committee report on the majority?s assisted-suicide bill (HF1930). In the end, the majority voted to adopt the committee report and move it along to the next committee stop.
House Republicans also on Day 1 made a motion to suspend the rules to bring forward a bill (HF3489) to resolve the school resource officer issue in our schools. You may recall changes made to state law last year limit what SROs are allowed to do to de-escalate aggressive or violent situations, taking away tools they can use to keep students and teachers safe. In response, law enforcement agencies pulled SROs from numerous schools across Minnesota.
Unfortunately, the majority blocked this motion to take prompt action and continues delaying legislation that is needed to fix this serious public safety issue despite promises to put it on a fast track.
Local visitors
 It was great to visit with, among others, representatives of the Greater Marshall Chamber of Commerce (pictured above) this week to discuss issues that are important to businesses in our local communities. Please reach out to my legislative offices using the contact info in this email if you plan to come to the Capitol this session and would like to arrange a meeting. It?s always great to see local faces in St. Paul.
Helpful links
Here are some links to House of Representatives resources that are helpful in following along this session:
Until next time, have a great weekend and please stay in touch. As always, let me know how I can help.
Sincerely,
Chris
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